Okay so, I've been wanting a GCC for quite some time now, they seem so affectionate and cuddly and playful. I know they're not as loud as other Conures, but can still make some noise. Noise isn't that much of an issue though. I'm looking for a cuddly, playful bird, and GCCs seem to fit that description. They like to hang upside down in their cages and get into mischief, from what I've seen and heard. My biggest concern is definetly feather destructive behavior, because I don't want a bird that will start plucking its feathers when I go away on vacation (the people who take care of them while we're away take great care of them and give them several hours of out of cage time) or when any small change happens in its environment. I know all birds have the potential to pluck their feathers if something is going on, but larger birds like toos and greys often seem to do it more frequently. Is there anything else I need to know about GCCs before I get one? I would be getting the bird in late July or early August. If a GCC is not for me, then what parrot should I consider instead?

GCCs are wonderful little birds but you need to have the time for them or they end up biting, screaming and/or plucking. They are VERY VERY needy and you already have two lone birds that need your attention so, although I am not telling you not to get one, you would need to make adjustments because you can't pay attention to three lone birds and make it work - something will have to give. My suggestion would be to get two flight cages and mates for the budgie and the tiel so you can concentrate on the GCC.

My budgie is not that demanding, she likes to be out and on me but doesn't demand a ton of one-on-one time. I could consider getting her a companion/mate but I'm not sure if they would get along, and I don't want to end up with yet another cage in my bird room when I'm already getting a GCC. She already lives in a very large cage. As for the tiel, he actually doesn't like other birds (unusual, I know) and I know this because when I saw him in the store, he always climbed over to the side of the cage to see me and ignored the other tiels. I don't know what to say, I know tiels are aviary birds but my tiel always preferred humans, even when he had other birds available. The other tiels in that cage were preening each other, while Ducky always came to see me and I never once saw him interacting with the other birds. It's not that I don't want to get him a mate, it's just that I know what would end up happening: they would not get along and I'd end up having to spend time with another lone bird. He hates my budgie, and often chases her away from me or lunges at her. He would be absolutely DEVASTATED if I put him with another bird that he doesn't even like and stopped paying attention to him. He loves me, he is bonded to me, and there is no way he is going to lose interest in me because of another bird. Just ask him. He is a total exception to other tiels, I understand, but the fact that tiels are still classified as aviary birds just won't make him suddenly like other birds. So basically, I would be willing to get a mate for the budgie if I was SURE they would get along, but my tiel will never change his mind about other birds.

You are so sure of what you think you know... Bless you for that but, if you want to become a good bird keeper, there is one lesson you need to learn. A lesson that people who has had many, many birds under their care have learned the hard way: people are not good at figuring out what birds want or like. We can't read them accurately. We think we do but we don't because we base our observations of their behavior in what we do know: mammals. And birds are completely different from them. You can keep a single dog or you can keep a pack of dogs and both the dog living single and the dogs living with other dogs can be happy - but dogs, regardless of breed, are one single species that has been domesticated for over 30,000 years. Parrots are all different species and they are all undomesticated so their needs are identical to the needs of the wild ones. Some of them are only happy when they have others of their own species and some of them can be happy with just one person as long as this person has his/her entire life revolving around the parrot (which not that many people are willing or able to do). The truth is that there isn't a whole lot of leeway in what makes them happy because we cannot change genetic traits.

You can't keep a lone tiel, a lone budgie and a lone GCC and expect all three of them to be happy. It won't work. It might (and this is a BIG might and I am only saying this not because I actually believe it will happen but because everything is possible) work while they are still young but it won't work in the long term. I can assure you (and you can take that to the bank!) that both your tiel and your budgie will like a mate if they are sexually developed, that is! It's just a matter of getting a bird of the appropriate gender and age and introducing them the right way.

I know that you think you know your tiel and that he doesn't like other tiels but you are basing your entire premise on the occasional perceived behavior of a baby in a very stressful situation (a few visits to a petstore). I am basing mine on nature's decrees, other experienced people's experience and my own personal experience of more than 50 individuals of either species. I have never seen or heard of a tiel or a budgie that did not like another of their own species if the other bird was right and the transition done correctly. Not once. The ONLY tiel I've had which did not like all other tiels was an old blind female with liver damage that had no toes left in her feet so she couldn't see, climb, perch or fly - and I still managed to get her a mate she accepted and liked! It took time and a very gradual approach but it worked and she lived the last couple of years of her life happily cuddling with her mate.

We have a huge obligation to any animal we take in as our own and it's not only food and water. It's our duty to make sure they are as happy as they can be at any point in their lives. Birds change as they mature - they get needs they did not have before and, whereas before they were OK with certain things, as time goes by, they are no longer OK with them. How long have you had your birds and how old are they?

I've really thought it through and I'm pretty sure I'm getting my budgie a mate. My budgie was never as bonded to me as my tiel, and she always tried to approach Ducky but never could get close because he would chase her away. My budgie is three years old, and my tiel is a year and a half. The budgie will get a mate and then I'll see how it goes with the tiel and green cheek, and I will watch carefully when my tiel matures to see if he starts calling or showing interest in my other birds. Then I will get him a mate. But until then, he will be a single bird and I will be observing him carefully. I'm pretty sure my budgie will be happy with her mate, but I simply can't afford for them to not get along so it will have to be a gradual introduction. Why do you think my budgie and tiel need mates but I would be okay with getting only one GCC? And also, will my budgie lose interest in me when she bonds with her mate?

Yes, your budgie will always like and love you but he will be happier spending time with his mate - but that doesn't mean that he won't like to come out and socialize with you.

Your tiel is a 'teenager' but next breeding season (if you keep him to a strict solar schedule and change his diet from season to season), he will start calling and calling and calling for a mate - you'll see.

GCCs do well with people because they bond very deeply to them and, as long as you are always there for him or her (and that means the bird ON you), they are fine. The problem is that most people have a life (work outside the house, school, vacations, friends, etc), free-feed them protein food and keep them at a human light schedule and that's when the problems start and why so many of them are given up all the time.

Good to know, because I don't keep my birds on a solar schedule or change their diet from season to season. How do you go about that? I want to do what's best for my birds. I do cover their cages at night, though. And how many hours do GCCs need for out of cage time?

A solar schedule means that the bird is exposed for, at least, 1.5 hours of twilight (dawn in the morning and dusk in the evening]. This is necessary because all birds are photoperiodic [which means their bodies determine what to do when by the length of the daylight hours] but, in order for their bodies to know how many hours there are in one given day, they need to be exposed to the different spectrum (which means the different lights that 'make' the light of the sun] that only happens when the day begins to break and the sun is setting. You know that golden/orangey/reddish light in the sky before sunrise and during sunset? Well, that's the one that turns on and off their internal clock and the number of hours between these two events constitutes the seasonal daylength. Think of it as a stop watch - the twilight turns it on in the morning and off in the evening. And the number of hours in between tells their bodies if it is breeding, molting, resting season and, for the ones that do, migration time. It also sets what is called their circadian (circa meaning 'about' and dia meaning day] cycle, also called daily biorhythms which tells them if it's time to eat, to interact or to rest. The thing about birds is that their entire endocrine system is governed by light so, when they don't follow a solar schedule with exposure to twilight, their bodies get all confused and screwed up because the endocrine system takes care of every single body function either directly or indirectly so it's not only the sexual hormones that are turned on or off by the solar schedule, it also affects their moods, sleep patterns, appetite, etc all the way to the immune system!

And the seasonal diet is simply following nature's ways which provide richer and more abundant food during breeding time than it does during resting time (what we would call winter].

As to the number of hours a GCC needs out of cage... well, the rule of thumb for parrots is a minimum of four hours a day but I personally think that GCCs, like cockatoos, need more than that. Mine is out for only two hours and she spends this entire time on me but she has a mate so she is never alone - and that makes a HUGE difference!

That was very helpful I will start uncovering my birds' cages earlier in the morning so they get exposed to the sunrise. I contacted the breeder and she has 1 cinnamon and 2 pineapple babies! When they're old enough, I will go there and pick one out to make sure she doesn't clip its wings.

One thing I forgot, there cannot be any artificial lights before or during dawn or during and after sunset. Also, for them to be exposed to dawn you would have to get up at 5 am this time of the year (bummer, right?]